(Birmingham News File Photo)This Vestavia Hills house owned by Richard Scrushy is scheduled for the auction block on Monday, Dec. 21, 2009. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- Richard Scrushy's Vestavia Hills estate
is slated to be auctioned today, and the high bid again is expected to be made
by HealthSouth Corp. shareholders.

The auction will take place at noon on
the steps of the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham.

No one has
been allowed to inspect the house and property after it was seized by the
Jefferson County Sheriff's Office as part of collection efforts against the
HealthSouth co-founder, who faces a $2.8 billion civil judgment.

The
Longleaf Drive estate recently was appraised for $4 million, making it an
expensive blind purchase. The same thing happened during the September auction
of Scrushy's $7.4 million Lake Martin house, which also attracted no outside
bidders willing to take a flier on a costly piece of unseen real
estate.

That leaves HealthSouth shareholders as the likely bidders, who
in the Lake Martin auction, entered the highest bid and credited Scrushy's debt
by the same amount. They plan on selling the house later for cash that would be
paid to the company.

"As in the past, we will take steps to assure
appropriate value is received," shareholder attorney John Somerville said. "As
in the past, that might include us taking possession through a judgment
credit."

Former company Chief Executive Scrushy is seeing his goods sold
to the highest bidder because in May he lost a Jefferson County Circuit Court
civil trial and was found liable for the accounting fraud that almost destroyed
the operator of physical-therapy clinics.

He was ordered to pay the
company $2.8 billion to compensate it for its recovery from the fraud, which a
judge said was concocted to boost the stock price.

Since Scrushy hasn't
ponied up any cash to settle the bill, his houses and possessions have been
seized by court order and are being sold to the highest bidder.

Problem
is, the highest value stuff -- the homes -- haven't been opened for buyer
inspection, per sheriff's policy. That means buyers lack the information
required to knowledgeably bid on a mutimillion-dollar property.

Predicted
scenario

Bottom line: HealthSouth shareholders once again probably will
buy a Scrushy house, just as in the Lake Martin case. Here is how it works,
according to Somerville:

They own the rights to any
proceeds from the sale of the house, whose appraised value in $4
million.

The house probably will not fetch any bids near or above the
appraised price because it has not been properly marketed.

HealthSouth
shareholders, through their attorneys, might enter a bid for the appraised price
and win the auction. No cash will change hands. Scrushy's $2.8 billion debt will
be reduced by the amount of the winning shareholder bid.

Shareholders
then will hire an auctioneer to properly advertise and market the house and
property in preparation for sale to an outside buyer, whose proceeds would be
paid to HealthSouth.

Jefferson County property records say the Longleaf
home was built in 1956 and has more than 18,000 square feet of space.

The
auction of the Vestavia estate is taking place after the Alabama Supreme Court
last week rejected Scrushy's attempts to halt the seizure and sale of his
belongings.

Attempts to reach attorneys for Scrushy were unsuccessful.
Their client is in federal prison in Beaumont, Texas, after being convicted of
bribing former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman for a spot on the state board that
authorizes new hospitals. He is scheduled to be released in about four and a
half years.

The fraud at HealthSouth emerged in 2003 after an FBI raid on
the U.S. 280 headquarters. Thousands of workers were fired and bankruptcy was
narrowly averted after it emerged that the company, from 1996 through 2002,
deceived investors by reporting fake profits while incurring actual losses of
$2.4 billion.

The company has since severed all ties to Scrushy and his
management team, reformatted the business, and returned to profitability.
HealthSouth stands to receive 40 percent of whatever Scrushy pays or what is
raised from selling his assets. Shareholders will get 25 percent and the lawyers
who handle the case will receive 35 percent.